On the topic of Nicholas’ thread, who do people see as the members of the banned 111 MPs who can now return to politics as offering the greatest opportunity in terms of their potential to develop meaningful policy. Personally, I hope Chaturon will have some significant input. He has proven himself to be a man of integrity (for a politician) and had a lot of good ideas about education back in the day.
Okay, this is dangerously going off thread, but to respond to yet more of Andrew’s willful misrepresentations of fact.
“The person on this thread trying to apologise and explain away such actions [by Thanee]”
I said it was wrong and that he should be sanctioned for it. I merely pointed out the fact that it is clear from the video that he was not strangling Chirayu. The video speaks for itself.
“The person … was also guilty of being an Abhisit/Dem fanboy during the 2010 massacre and was also one of the loudest voices, at that time, trying to defend the use of soldiers against unarmed civilians.”
I’m neither a Democrat nor a fanboy of Abhisit. Furthermore, I did not realise that this was even an offence once could be guilty of.
As for, “was one of the loudest voices, at that time, trying to defend the use of soldiers against unarmed civilians.”
You’re really outdoing yourself with your outright lies here, Andrew. Well done, slap yourself on the back. Move along.
As for my comment, “More rhetoric-filled drivel from Spooner who continues his one-eyed exploration of Thai politics…” this was not because you attacked Abhisit, it was in fact because your attack was “rhetoric-filled drivel… [a] one-eyed exploration of Thai politics.”
I stand by that statement today. In fact, I would add to it. Back in 2010/11, you were promoting yourself as pro-UDD/red shirt and stated that you were not pro-Thaksin/PTP. You stated how you had previously criticised Thaksin on TeakDoor as evidence of this. Yet since then your analyses has shifted away from defending/promotion the red shirts to focus on support for the PTP, and on occasion Thaksin and Robert Amsterdam.
Your jumping to the defence of the “lenient” sentence that Chiranuch received this week speaks volumes as to the above assertion.
I guess I would have to now more accurately describe your communications as poorly written, badly constructed, agenda driven propaganda.
Your refusal to answer straight, direct questions about issues you raise in your articles and the bias of your writing, compounded with the selective quoting of people and misrepresenting of facts, which you have been called out on this week alone by Giles, Nick, Orinoco, myself serve to reinforce this point.
Your above description of the “throttling” that never took place is another fine example of your sensationalistic misrepresentations.
As I have already stated, Thanee’s actions are deplorable and unjustified. You can see from the freeze-frames and the video that he turns Chirayu so he can shout something at him. Not right. Not nice. Not throttling.
Chirayu hasn’t even raised his right arm to push Thanee away, neither has he tried to dig his chin into his chest which is a natural reflex/flinch response to a strangle- or choke-hold. That would imply there is no crushing force. As the video clip shows the whole incident lasted for about one second.
Anyway Andrew, I’m sure you will be content continuing to weave your webs of deceit. Your myopia has obviously progressed to such an advanced stage that you cannot even see the most glaring of holes in your arguments.
Am following some Western media reporting of the recent round of PAD/Dem actions.
Not one makes any attempt to describe the PAD’s neo-fascist and anti-democratic political agenda.
Not one describes the routine use of racist hate-speech by the PAD.
I’m also waiting for HRW and Amnesty to use an accurate form of words to describe the PAD’s politics and to condemn the PAD’s call for fascism.
Or will Amnesty staffers be releasing pro-PAD statements again as they did in 2008? Or are Sunai Phasuk and HRW already going around the embassies making clear their support for any coup and what committed anti-Pheu Thai activists they are?
“All that matters is what will happen if people do not speak up.
Actually, the Burmese people inside Burma are speaking up.”
Burmese public has been studiously ignored. By the military which is thoroughly expected. By the “experts”, who cares?
But the unkindest cut is absolutely total disregard by Aung San Suu Kyi.
When she came out, she said quite rightly she wanted to listen to the people but it sounded like she was saying it so that she could have good excuse to move around the country.
Thein Sein (in fact Than Shwe) called her bluff and let her loose. And she went around the country TELLING people what is democracy and what to think and what to do. Never wanting to know what people has to say.
Now the sanctions are dropped. Kachin are daily killed. Deputy Foreign minister of Norway, for god’s sake, is in Burma to bring back the Karen from Thailand. No one knows what in store for them. Everyone knows the military is getting stronger like an ogre feasting on rotten meat and are more menacing than ever.
People are squeezed off their life blood by these garment and other labour intensive factories who the anti- sanction groups used to say are what the Burmes should be grateful to have, and every one wants to get rid off the overbearing, rude, inconsiderate, greedy, ruthless Chinese destroying the country not knowing how to do it and they have no one to turn to.
The one they felt they can turn to has effectively sold them off.
Aung San Suu Kyi made all the decisions without talking to even the long time fellow activists who are simply ignored as the ones in Thailand as we speak. The people she meets are all different agents of multinational conglomerates.
Left to their own devices with no recourse and starving with no end in sight, these peaceful protests are soon going to loose that particular adjective.
Greg, my comment was: “The intent seems clear and it hardly requires words to explain or justify what has been done.” That was my opinion after watching the video. I still don’t see the point of trying to argue about it. If someone lunges at you and tries to or does grab your throat, you know the intent is not good.
The person on this thread trying to apologise and explain away such actions was also guilty of being an Abhisit/Dem fanboy during the 2010 massacre and was also one of the loudest voices, at that time, trying to defend the use of soldiers against unarmed civilians. Here’s a comment by him from a year back defending poor likkle Mark after I’d dared to question the use of the word “Grace” to describe Abhisit http://bit.ly/L7qUAq (original article here http://bit.ly/jDAjvD)
It’s also self-evident that grabbing someone by the throat is an attempt to strangle them and is an incredibly dangerous thing to do as it is actually quite easy to crush someone’s windpipe. Why didn’t Suthep’s brother Tani (yep, that’s right) grab his PT counterpart on the arm or the shoulder? As other pics show Tani begins his attack from behind (favourite, cowardly Dem Party tactic), uses his forearm against the throat at first and then swings around until he is throttling the PT MP’s with his hand. http://twitpic.com/9ri6nn.
And where is the odious Abhisit? Why isn’t he leading his troops from the front? There was a photo on the equally odious Sirochoke “Wallpaper” Sopha’s FB page of Mark sitting in an office, reclining on a chair, looking creepy, entitled “Ready for War”. The Ice Cream Gang* are back and desperate, once again, to attack Thai democracy and possibly slaughter a few Red Shirts and readily-demonised “Thaksinites” along the way.
Personally, I am hoping (I’m usually over-optimistic about stuff like this) that the ICC do investigate Mark. There is certainly a case against him and it would certainly be an opportunity to fully and independently investigate such issues as who the Black Shirts really were. A few journalists observing events and a HRW report put together by someone who is clearly politicised, don’t cut it – the issue needs to be fully looked into. I mean who would oppose or seek to stymie an independent investigation of the kind the ICC are capable of? And given the almost universal acknowledgement that Thai system is “bust” whose interest would it serve to stop such an investigation?
On a side note there are two other points to raise about the Dems’ recent shenanigans. First up, a few days back their website mysteriously went down – the story is that they’ve allegedly been caught taking dodgy donations once again. This might explain, to a degree, why they’re looking for leverage.
Also there’s the story of Dem MP Kanchit who is wanted for questioning in relation to the gangland style execution of a PT staffer (I think) who had 6 bullets pumped into him at a gas/petrol station. The incident was caught on camera and the police aren’t looking for any other suspects is my understanding. Kanchit is hiding behind his MP immunity but could still be expelled by the party – why haven’t Mark and the Dems taken any action in a case where obvious criminality has occurred? We can also imagine the media/NGO/Sunai Phasuk activity that would be occurring if a PT MP had gunned down a Dem Party person in similar circumstances.
*The Ice Cream Gang was the nickname given by the Army to Abhisit and his gang of whiny acolytes in Camp 11. Apparently, while eager to sign off on any act of Army brutality, they just sat around looking vacant and eating ice cream.
It wouldn’t be Thai journalism if they had written your lenghty full name completely without any mistake but thank you for sharing some interesting details of your life, which you didn’t publicise before in English or German for the reason of privacy.
I wish you all the best for the future. Maybe you are on the frontline again just now at Thai Parliament, Khun Nikolaus ,
Anyone who thinks the power shortages (I mean electric power, of course, not political power) and the labor protests and the land grabs will end anytime soon are living in la la land.
Check out RFA TV broadcasts and clips on a daily basis.
There you will see how angry people are.
I think Burma is headed for something like the French Revolution.
You can agree with me or not. It does not matter.
All that matters is what will happen if people do not speak up.
Actually, the Burmese people inside Burma are speaking up.
The “experts” are the cowards.
Zaykabar was just given the right to do tenant farming on the lands near Mingaladone it had forcibly taken.
“Grabbing a fellow MP by the throat (as both sources show) is disgraceful.”
Absolutely.
“The intent seems clear and it hardly requires words to explain or justify what has been done.”
Both sources state the intent was to strangulate, that directly implies that Thanee intended to either kill or cause serious damage to Chirayu by the act of strangulation, which is the prevention of blood flow to the brain by compressing/closing off the carotid arteries.
Neither clip shows that at all. So the claim is false. It shows Thanee placing his hand on Chirayu’s upper chest and throat, stopping him from walking away and turning him around while saying/shouting something at him.
You see no force applied to his throat and Thanee removes his hand from that position before other parties intervene. No one needed to separate the two in order to stop Thanee for “grabbing” Chirayu’s throat. That makes it very hard to argue there was clear intent to cause physical damage.
Why not focus on the facts: that Thanee’s behaviour was deplorable and unjustifiable, as was the behaviour of the rest of the Democrat MPs involved in the scrum?
Unfortunately, given that MPs can be prime suspects in a murder cases and still not forced to be questioned under caution by police, or arrested for their suspected offence because of parliamentary immunity, the chances of any sanction against the MPs who have acted like pugnacious schoolboys over the past few days are slim indeed.
This highlights one of the key problems in Thailand — no general rule of law, and an impartial and selective application of law which generally benefits the rich and powerful, be they Thaksin Shinawattra, Newin Chidchob or Suthep Thaugsuban.
I hope the assembled leaders from government and business at the WEF in Bangkok watch this disgusting performance by the anti-democratic royalist-backed Thailand Democrat party and their PAD/Yellow/Sondhi/Chamlong stooges and finally understand what is at stake in Thailand. To go forward per the will of the majority of the Thai electorate and people or to remain mired in the royalist entitled privileged past of impunity, military coups and contempt for all things democratic, all people who work for a living and all people with darker skin tone.
The video clip was made from behind Chirayu and Thanee (related to Suthep Theuksuban) but another clip made from the front showed that Thanee indeed did strangle Chirayu albeit for a few seconds. Check this site: http://www.thaienews.blogspot.com/
I also don’t think anyone would die with a two-second strangulation and I am amused with your choice of words “attempted murder”.
Why did Thanee do that? What is wrong with filming anything in the House? Chuwit does it all the time and proudly showed his pen camera.
Grabbing a fellow MP by the throat (as both sources show) is disgraceful. The intent seems clear and it hardly requires words to explain or justify what has been done.
The Democrat Party seems to have a number of MPs who have now committed assaults on fellow MPs over the past 2-3 days. As I understand it, they can’t be sanctioned while MPs, except by parliament. I wonder what the Democrat Party would do if parliament were to sanction such thuggish action by its members.
Ralph… a fair point. I couldn’t find any direct comments relating to Surachai’s sentence either, though the HRW statement was quoted in the context of his sentence in The Guardian and other news outlets.
The very fact that this topic can see the light of day shows how far we have come. The people have been subconsciously programmed by the MSM(main stream media) to shun such thinking as blasphemy thus contributing to the perpetuating of the BN govt based on subconscious emotions rather than logic. If more such articles come up helping to challenge peoples way of thinking, maybe Malaysia will learn to be critical thinkers rather than mindless sheeps
#17 “Meanwhile, Chirayu Huangsap, a first-time Pheu Thai MP and former tv broadcaster, was grabbed in the neck and strangled by democrat MP Thanee Theuksuban (familiar family name?) after Chirayu tried to record the book-throwing incident with his hand-phone.”
TU, the video clip shows nothing of the sort. You see Thani rush after him, grab him by putting his hand up against his throat, turning him around and saying something to him. Thani has removed his hand from Chirayu’s body before anyone else gets there. Contact is made for about a second.
Is this acceptable behaviour for an MP to conduct within the house? Absolutely not. Should he be sanctioned for it? Sure. (In the UK such contact could constitute common assault.) But is it strangulation? Not at all.
Andrew Spooner made a very similar claim on his Facebook page: “Thai ‘Democrat’ Party MP (they’ve just allied themselves to neo-fascist group) attempts to strangle government MP”
If you check out the above-linked freeze-frame, it does look more convincing that Thani is engaged in an act of violence, but as the video clip shows, this is not the case.
Given the heated situation at the moment, it is worth reporting incidents accurately. Otherwise, you may end up with one side and their supporters accusing the other of attempted murder. Tempers would fray. Anger would spill over further. Where would that lead us all?
Ong’s 5 P’s makes for interesting reading. To begin with his opening remarks “in the unlikely event PR wins” is a non-starter as each day goes by with no view in sight that PM Najib can clinch the coming elections other than through electoral fraud. There is growing evidence that Bersih is effective enough to force the Elections Commission to scale back the cheating. The 13GE can go either way.
The moot point is that after the last elections, Malaysia has embarked on a two-party system, beginning with the denial of a 2/3 majority to the ruling coalition. There’s no turning back.
Three scenarios:
BN wins with marginal improvement over last elections results. Najib entrenches himself in Umno. Introduces GST. After 100 days, introduces severe economic policies. Covers up Scorpene case and all other corruption cases. Silences Mahathir and warlords. Rolls out roadmap to one-party system.
Secondly: Hung parliament. BN uses the King as a shield and pivot. Another May 13 and Emergency rule unlikely. Plenty of money from both sides crosses the floor to buy MPs. Govt in transition, country goes into another general elections with a new power sharing formula.
Thirdly, PR wins outright. Umno totally in disarray giving time to PR to roll out its own roadmap. Need to capture the public imagination with not only the first 100 -Day Report Card but also the next 1oo days tio sustain popularity and even a thrid 100-Day Report Card. Replace the chief justice, AG, MACC and IGP be replaced. The media with or without PR backing breaks out on its own to push back censorship. The army has no experience to try to impose itself like Indonesia’s ABRI. In any case the King is the Supreme Commander in Chief, so better leave the army alone.
PR should not follow the Aquino model after the downfall of Marcos but study the post-Soeharta approaches. Sabah and Sarawak with more bargaining power.
PR should not waste time trying to put too many BN types into jail. Shaming them through Royal Inquiries more pragmatic. PR unlikely to recover significantly any of the corruption money. Start to stop the rot is good enough. Make Petronas and MACC report directly to parliament.
The new and young players will shape the new Malaysia. The race and religion card need to be scaled back. Start dismantling apartheid but at the same time assuring Malays and natives of their special position, and Islam as official religion and the role of the monarchy.
The biggest obstacles for a new Pakatan government would be 1) gaining the complete cooperation of the civil service from the top echelon down to the junior officers and 2) earning the trust and loyalty of the Armed Forces. Every thing else can be sorted out over time but the above two issues are crucial for the immediate survival of the government.
An audience #16
“it seems like the war in Thailand just begun.”
Not yet. The real intense war in Thailand will occur after the death of the King. But before that happens, the Royalists need to be enlightened first. When the vast majority of the Thais know that the military is the real enemy to the democracy, then the war between the people and the army can then begin.
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The end, the beginning
On the topic of Nicholas’ thread, who do people see as the members of the banned 111 MPs who can now return to politics as offering the greatest opportunity in terms of their potential to develop meaningful policy. Personally, I hope Chaturon will have some significant input. He has proven himself to be a man of integrity (for a politician) and had a lot of good ideas about education back in the day.
The end, the beginning
Okay, this is dangerously going off thread, but to respond to yet more of Andrew’s willful misrepresentations of fact.
“The person on this thread trying to apologise and explain away such actions [by Thanee]”
I said it was wrong and that he should be sanctioned for it. I merely pointed out the fact that it is clear from the video that he was not strangling Chirayu. The video speaks for itself.
“The person … was also guilty of being an Abhisit/Dem fanboy during the 2010 massacre and was also one of the loudest voices, at that time, trying to defend the use of soldiers against unarmed civilians.”
I’m neither a Democrat nor a fanboy of Abhisit. Furthermore, I did not realise that this was even an offence once could be guilty of.
As for, “was one of the loudest voices, at that time, trying to defend the use of soldiers against unarmed civilians.”
You’re really outdoing yourself with your outright lies here, Andrew. Well done, slap yourself on the back. Move along.
As for my comment, “More rhetoric-filled drivel from Spooner who continues his one-eyed exploration of Thai politics…” this was not because you attacked Abhisit, it was in fact because your attack was “rhetoric-filled drivel… [a] one-eyed exploration of Thai politics.”
I stand by that statement today. In fact, I would add to it. Back in 2010/11, you were promoting yourself as pro-UDD/red shirt and stated that you were not pro-Thaksin/PTP. You stated how you had previously criticised Thaksin on TeakDoor as evidence of this. Yet since then your analyses has shifted away from defending/promotion the red shirts to focus on support for the PTP, and on occasion Thaksin and Robert Amsterdam.
Your jumping to the defence of the “lenient” sentence that Chiranuch received this week speaks volumes as to the above assertion.
I guess I would have to now more accurately describe your communications as poorly written, badly constructed, agenda driven propaganda.
Your refusal to answer straight, direct questions about issues you raise in your articles and the bias of your writing, compounded with the selective quoting of people and misrepresenting of facts, which you have been called out on this week alone by Giles, Nick, Orinoco, myself serve to reinforce this point.
Your above description of the “throttling” that never took place is another fine example of your sensationalistic misrepresentations.
As I have already stated, Thanee’s actions are deplorable and unjustified. You can see from the freeze-frames and the video that he turns Chirayu so he can shout something at him. Not right. Not nice. Not throttling.
Chirayu hasn’t even raised his right arm to push Thanee away, neither has he tried to dig his chin into his chest which is a natural reflex/flinch response to a strangle- or choke-hold. That would imply there is no crushing force. As the video clip shows the whole incident lasted for about one second.
Anyway Andrew, I’m sure you will be content continuing to weave your webs of deceit. Your myopia has obviously progressed to such an advanced stage that you cannot even see the most glaring of holes in your arguments.
The end, the beginning
Am following some Western media reporting of the recent round of PAD/Dem actions.
Not one makes any attempt to describe the PAD’s neo-fascist and anti-democratic political agenda.
Not one describes the routine use of racist hate-speech by the PAD.
I’m also waiting for HRW and Amnesty to use an accurate form of words to describe the PAD’s politics and to condemn the PAD’s call for fascism.
Or will Amnesty staffers be releasing pro-PAD statements again as they did in 2008? Or are Sunai Phasuk and HRW already going around the embassies making clear their support for any coup and what committed anti-Pheu Thai activists they are?
Thant Myint-U on Yangon
“All that matters is what will happen if people do not speak up.
Actually, the Burmese people inside Burma are speaking up.”
Burmese public has been studiously ignored. By the military which is thoroughly expected. By the “experts”, who cares?
But the unkindest cut is absolutely total disregard by Aung San Suu Kyi.
When she came out, she said quite rightly she wanted to listen to the people but it sounded like she was saying it so that she could have good excuse to move around the country.
Thein Sein (in fact Than Shwe) called her bluff and let her loose. And she went around the country TELLING people what is democracy and what to think and what to do. Never wanting to know what people has to say.
Now the sanctions are dropped. Kachin are daily killed. Deputy Foreign minister of Norway, for god’s sake, is in Burma to bring back the Karen from Thailand. No one knows what in store for them. Everyone knows the military is getting stronger like an ogre feasting on rotten meat and are more menacing than ever.
People are squeezed off their life blood by these garment and other labour intensive factories who the anti- sanction groups used to say are what the Burmes should be grateful to have, and every one wants to get rid off the overbearing, rude, inconsiderate, greedy, ruthless Chinese destroying the country not knowing how to do it and they have no one to turn to.
The one they felt they can turn to has effectively sold them off.
Aung San Suu Kyi made all the decisions without talking to even the long time fellow activists who are simply ignored as the ones in Thailand as we speak. The people she meets are all different agents of multinational conglomerates.
Left to their own devices with no recourse and starving with no end in sight, these peaceful protests are soon going to loose that particular adjective.
The end, the beginning
Greg, my comment was: “The intent seems clear and it hardly requires words to explain or justify what has been done.” That was my opinion after watching the video. I still don’t see the point of trying to argue about it. If someone lunges at you and tries to or does grab your throat, you know the intent is not good.
The end, the beginning
Ralph K
Spot on.
The person on this thread trying to apologise and explain away such actions was also guilty of being an Abhisit/Dem fanboy during the 2010 massacre and was also one of the loudest voices, at that time, trying to defend the use of soldiers against unarmed civilians. Here’s a comment by him from a year back defending poor likkle Mark after I’d dared to question the use of the word “Grace” to describe Abhisit http://bit.ly/L7qUAq (original article here http://bit.ly/jDAjvD)
It’s also self-evident that grabbing someone by the throat is an attempt to strangle them and is an incredibly dangerous thing to do as it is actually quite easy to crush someone’s windpipe. Why didn’t Suthep’s brother Tani (yep, that’s right) grab his PT counterpart on the arm or the shoulder? As other pics show Tani begins his attack from behind (favourite, cowardly Dem Party tactic), uses his forearm against the throat at first and then swings around until he is throttling the PT MP’s with his hand. http://twitpic.com/9ri6nn.
And where is the odious Abhisit? Why isn’t he leading his troops from the front? There was a photo on the equally odious Sirochoke “Wallpaper” Sopha’s FB page of Mark sitting in an office, reclining on a chair, looking creepy, entitled “Ready for War”. The Ice Cream Gang* are back and desperate, once again, to attack Thai democracy and possibly slaughter a few Red Shirts and readily-demonised “Thaksinites” along the way.
Personally, I am hoping (I’m usually over-optimistic about stuff like this) that the ICC do investigate Mark. There is certainly a case against him and it would certainly be an opportunity to fully and independently investigate such issues as who the Black Shirts really were. A few journalists observing events and a HRW report put together by someone who is clearly politicised, don’t cut it – the issue needs to be fully looked into. I mean who would oppose or seek to stymie an independent investigation of the kind the ICC are capable of? And given the almost universal acknowledgement that Thai system is “bust” whose interest would it serve to stop such an investigation?
On a side note there are two other points to raise about the Dems’ recent shenanigans. First up, a few days back their website mysteriously went down – the story is that they’ve allegedly been caught taking dodgy donations once again. This might explain, to a degree, why they’re looking for leverage.
Also there’s the story of Dem MP Kanchit who is wanted for questioning in relation to the gangland style execution of a PT staffer (I think) who had 6 bullets pumped into him at a gas/petrol station. The incident was caught on camera and the police aren’t looking for any other suspects is my understanding. Kanchit is hiding behind his MP immunity but could still be expelled by the party – why haven’t Mark and the Dems taken any action in a case where obvious criminality has occurred? We can also imagine the media/NGO/Sunai Phasuk activity that would be occurring if a PT MP had gunned down a Dem Party person in similar circumstances.
*The Ice Cream Gang was the nickname given by the Army to Abhisit and his gang of whiny acolytes in Camp 11. Apparently, while eager to sign off on any act of Army brutality, they just sat around looking vacant and eating ice cream.
Nick Nostitz interviewed by Matichon
It wouldn’t be Thai journalism if they had written your lenghty full name completely without any mistake but thank you for sharing some interesting details of your life, which you didn’t publicise before in English or German for the reason of privacy.
I wish you all the best for the future. Maybe you are on the frontline again just now at Thai Parliament, Khun Nikolaus ,
Ambiga and the fate of women leaders in Malaysia
[…] Ambiga and the fate of women leaders in Malaysia (asiapacific.anu.edu.au) […]
Thant Myint-U on Yangon
Anyone who thinks the power shortages (I mean electric power, of course, not political power) and the labor protests and the land grabs will end anytime soon are living in la la land.
Check out RFA TV broadcasts and clips on a daily basis.
There you will see how angry people are.
I think Burma is headed for something like the French Revolution.
You can agree with me or not. It does not matter.
All that matters is what will happen if people do not speak up.
Actually, the Burmese people inside Burma are speaking up.
The “experts” are the cowards.
Zaykabar was just given the right to do tenant farming on the lands near Mingaladone it had forcibly taken.
K.M. Kaung.
The end, the beginning
“Grabbing a fellow MP by the throat (as both sources show) is disgraceful.”
Absolutely.
“The intent seems clear and it hardly requires words to explain or justify what has been done.”
Both sources state the intent was to strangulate, that directly implies that Thanee intended to either kill or cause serious damage to Chirayu by the act of strangulation, which is the prevention of blood flow to the brain by compressing/closing off the carotid arteries.
Neither clip shows that at all. So the claim is false. It shows Thanee placing his hand on Chirayu’s upper chest and throat, stopping him from walking away and turning him around while saying/shouting something at him.
You see no force applied to his throat and Thanee removes his hand from that position before other parties intervene. No one needed to separate the two in order to stop Thanee for “grabbing” Chirayu’s throat. That makes it very hard to argue there was clear intent to cause physical damage.
Why not focus on the facts: that Thanee’s behaviour was deplorable and unjustifiable, as was the behaviour of the rest of the Democrat MPs involved in the scrum?
Unfortunately, given that MPs can be prime suspects in a murder cases and still not forced to be questioned under caution by police, or arrested for their suspected offence because of parliamentary immunity, the chances of any sanction against the MPs who have acted like pugnacious schoolboys over the past few days are slim indeed.
This highlights one of the key problems in Thailand — no general rule of law, and an impartial and selective application of law which generally benefits the rich and powerful, be they Thaksin Shinawattra, Newin Chidchob or Suthep Thaugsuban.
The end, the beginning
I hope the assembled leaders from government and business at the WEF in Bangkok watch this disgusting performance by the anti-democratic royalist-backed Thailand Democrat party and their PAD/Yellow/Sondhi/Chamlong stooges and finally understand what is at stake in Thailand. To go forward per the will of the majority of the Thai electorate and people or to remain mired in the royalist entitled privileged past of impunity, military coups and contempt for all things democratic, all people who work for a living and all people with darker skin tone.
The end, the beginning
Greg, #18
The video clip was made from behind Chirayu and Thanee (related to Suthep Theuksuban) but another clip made from the front showed that Thanee indeed did strangle Chirayu albeit for a few seconds. Check this site: http://www.thaienews.blogspot.com/
I also don’t think anyone would die with a two-second strangulation and I am amused with your choice of words “attempted murder”.
Why did Thanee do that? What is wrong with filming anything in the House? Chuwit does it all the time and proudly showed his pen camera.
The end, the beginning
Grabbing a fellow MP by the throat (as both sources show) is disgraceful. The intent seems clear and it hardly requires words to explain or justify what has been done.
The Democrat Party seems to have a number of MPs who have now committed assaults on fellow MPs over the past 2-3 days. As I understand it, they can’t be sanctioned while MPs, except by parliament. I wonder what the Democrat Party would do if parliament were to sanction such thuggish action by its members.
Human rights and lese majeste
Ralph… a fair point. I couldn’t find any direct comments relating to Surachai’s sentence either, though the HRW statement was quoted in the context of his sentence in The Guardian and other news outlets.
Malaysia after regime change – Ong Kian Ming
The very fact that this topic can see the light of day shows how far we have come. The people have been subconsciously programmed by the MSM(main stream media) to shun such thinking as blasphemy thus contributing to the perpetuating of the BN govt based on subconscious emotions rather than logic. If more such articles come up helping to challenge peoples way of thinking, maybe Malaysia will learn to be critical thinkers rather than mindless sheeps
The end, the beginning
#17 “Meanwhile, Chirayu Huangsap, a first-time Pheu Thai MP and former tv broadcaster, was grabbed in the neck and strangled by democrat MP Thanee Theuksuban (familiar family name?) after Chirayu tried to record the book-throwing incident with his hand-phone.”
TU, the video clip shows nothing of the sort. You see Thani rush after him, grab him by putting his hand up against his throat, turning him around and saying something to him. Thani has removed his hand from Chirayu’s body before anyone else gets there. Contact is made for about a second.
Is this acceptable behaviour for an MP to conduct within the house? Absolutely not. Should he be sanctioned for it? Sure. (In the UK such contact could constitute common assault.) But is it strangulation? Not at all.
Andrew Spooner made a very similar claim on his Facebook page: “Thai ‘Democrat’ Party MP (they’ve just allied themselves to neo-fascist group) attempts to strangle government MP”
http://twitpic.com/9rc6bt
If you check out the above-linked freeze-frame, it does look more convincing that Thani is engaged in an act of violence, but as the video clip shows, this is not the case.
Given the heated situation at the moment, it is worth reporting incidents accurately. Otherwise, you may end up with one side and their supporters accusing the other of attempted murder. Tempers would fray. Anger would spill over further. Where would that lead us all?
Malaysia after regime change – Ong Kian Ming
Ong’s 5 P’s makes for interesting reading. To begin with his opening remarks “in the unlikely event PR wins” is a non-starter as each day goes by with no view in sight that PM Najib can clinch the coming elections other than through electoral fraud. There is growing evidence that Bersih is effective enough to force the Elections Commission to scale back the cheating. The 13GE can go either way.
The moot point is that after the last elections, Malaysia has embarked on a two-party system, beginning with the denial of a 2/3 majority to the ruling coalition. There’s no turning back.
Three scenarios:
BN wins with marginal improvement over last elections results. Najib entrenches himself in Umno. Introduces GST. After 100 days, introduces severe economic policies. Covers up Scorpene case and all other corruption cases. Silences Mahathir and warlords. Rolls out roadmap to one-party system.
Secondly: Hung parliament. BN uses the King as a shield and pivot. Another May 13 and Emergency rule unlikely. Plenty of money from both sides crosses the floor to buy MPs. Govt in transition, country goes into another general elections with a new power sharing formula.
Thirdly, PR wins outright. Umno totally in disarray giving time to PR to roll out its own roadmap. Need to capture the public imagination with not only the first 100 -Day Report Card but also the next 1oo days tio sustain popularity and even a thrid 100-Day Report Card. Replace the chief justice, AG, MACC and IGP be replaced. The media with or without PR backing breaks out on its own to push back censorship. The army has no experience to try to impose itself like Indonesia’s ABRI. In any case the King is the Supreme Commander in Chief, so better leave the army alone.
PR should not follow the Aquino model after the downfall of Marcos but study the post-Soeharta approaches. Sabah and Sarawak with more bargaining power.
PR should not waste time trying to put too many BN types into jail. Shaming them through Royal Inquiries more pragmatic. PR unlikely to recover significantly any of the corruption money. Start to stop the rot is good enough. Make Petronas and MACC report directly to parliament.
The new and young players will shape the new Malaysia. The race and religion card need to be scaled back. Start dismantling apartheid but at the same time assuring Malays and natives of their special position, and Islam as official religion and the role of the monarchy.
Malaysia after regime change – Ong Kian Ming
The biggest obstacles for a new Pakatan government would be 1) gaining the complete cooperation of the civil service from the top echelon down to the junior officers and 2) earning the trust and loyalty of the Armed Forces. Every thing else can be sorted out over time but the above two issues are crucial for the immediate survival of the government.
Nick Nostitz interviewed by Matichon
An audience #16
“it seems like the war in Thailand just begun.”
Not yet. The real intense war in Thailand will occur after the death of the King. But before that happens, the Royalists need to be enlightened first. When the vast majority of the Thais know that the military is the real enemy to the democracy, then the war between the people and the army can then begin.
Nick Nostitz interviewed by Matichon
Hi Nick, are you leaving Thailand? Who will be a witness – it seems like the war in Thailand just begun. We will miss you!